Custom Legal Ar FAQ's

[Ragekage1990]

So heres how i understand it, if i buy the James madison tactical polymer receiver kit w/ jig assembly, drill and mill my own lower, its a custom gun and doesn't need to be registered. Heres my questions,

1) in order to be california legal the lower must have a identifiable mark on it (JMT)?

2) in order to be legal a custom built receiver, it must have the same features as a store bought ar?? (bullet button,ten rd mag limit),or must it be fixed magazine with no pistol grip???

3)are there any other concerns regarding stocks,grips, or and other upgradable component that would make the rifle fall outside the category of legal.

I wanna build my own,but don't want to go to prison doing it. The machining is simple,as well as the assembly,its the laws I'm worried about. Any answers or advice would be appreciated. Thanks all

[19K]

So heres how i understand it, if i buy the James madison tactical polymer receiver kit w/ jig assembly, drill and mill my own lower, its a custom gun and doesn't need to be registered. Heres my questions,

1) in order to be california legal the lower must have a identifiable mark on it (JMT)?

2) in order to be legal a custom built receiver, it must have the same features as a store bought ar?? (bullet button,ten rd mag limit),or must it be fixed magazine with no pistol grip???

3)are there any other concerns regarding stocks,grips, or and other upgradable component that would make the rifle fall outside the category of legal.

I wanna build my own,but don't want to go to prison doing it. The machining is simple,as well as the assembly,its the laws I'm worried about. Any answers or advice would be appreciated. Thanks all

It's cheaper to buy a receiver at a lgs if you're just going for a rifle. It must have the same features as a regular ar 15. If you want a pistol grip and it's a center fire it needs a bullet button.

I finished my ep lower so I could legally make my single shot pistol.

[SB1964]

Start looking for flow charts about the features & California law, go from there. I would not suggest asking for legal advice on the internet. Lose the brand names, the word custom & tactical. It wont & doesn't matter. Just study the flow chart.

[Ragekage1990]

Obviously the opinions out on polymer lower receivers, however i found one from James Madison Tactical for 99 bucks including a jig. The idea of building one really has me going. Any advice on 80% kits that have had good results?

[chknlyps2]

So heres how i understand it, if i buy the James madison tactical polymer receiver kit w/ jig assembly, drill and mill my own lower, its a custom gun and doesn't need to be registered. Heres my questions,

1) in order to be california legal the lower must have a identifiable mark on it (JMT)?

2) in order to be legal a custom built receiver, it must have the same features as a store bought ar?? (bullet button,ten rd mag limit),or must it be fixed magazine with no pistol grip???

3)are there any other concerns regarding stocks,grips, or and other upgradable component that would make the rifle fall outside the category of legal.

I wanna build my own,but don't want to go to prison doing it. The machining is simple,as well as the assembly,its the laws I'm worried about. Any answers or advice would be appreciated. Thanks all

See flow chart for configuration http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf As far as markings I am not 100 % sure so I don't want to give wrong info, someone else will be along with more info.

[SCZ]

1) Currently there's no regs requiring identifying markings on federal or Ca state for home-built firearms.
However... some people like to mark their homebuilt firearms for a couple reasons:
A) if they ever decide to transfer it to another party at some point in the future it needs to meet fed marking req's for it to be transferrable
B) should it ever get stolen, it's got a better chance of being returned if recovered by LEO (if it's not marked there's no reasonable way for you to claim it as your own)
C) not all LEO's are aware homebuilt firearms are perfectly legal and don't require markings, some prefer to play it safe and have their own identifiers on their firearms to avoid any confusion about it possibly being a firearm with altered/defaced markings

2) you've got that all kinds of wonky.. go through the flowchart step by step...
Assuming centerfire calibers:
the brief truncated version is for rifle builds.. if you want detachable magazines... no other features (pistol grip, flash hider, collapsing/folding stock, vertical foregrip are all out)
pistol builds.. is a different story.. read up on SSE's and get familiar with the SSE req's and build your compliant pistol... after that you can remove the 0-rnd sled and replace with a fixed (BB's) magazine... you will not be able to use detachable mags since the magwell is outside the grip.

3) not really that I'm aware of.. just don't try slidefire/bumpfire stocks (all considered multi-burst trigger activators within CA)... don't go bolting another gun onto it either... I think that triggers fed AW regs... also don't name it any of the things listed on the back of the flowchart if you do decide to engrave/mark it...

That's kinda the watered down version.. keep reading up before you commit to anything... and keep asking sensible questions.. the more specific the easier it is to answer...

So with that in mind... what caliber are you planning?
Rifle/pistol build?
Are there any features you MUST have?
Barrel length?
OAL?
etc..